Thursday, January 18, 2007

June Taylor Tomato Ketchup

I'll be jammed, this stuff is good!

When I was a kid I really, really wanted one of these. I begged and pleaded, but my mother was firm. "No", she first of all insisted, "they are unhygenic". Maybe, eventually, she actually relented because I seem to remember, later, giggling at the table whenever the squeezy bottle made a wet farting sound caused by a combination of air trapped in the bottle and build up of congealed tomato ketchup around the nozzle.

In my adult life I haven't been much of a consumer of tomato ketchup. In general I don't purchase a lot of processed food but at the end of 2004 I bought a bottle of Heinz Organic tomato sauce for a Food & Wine or Gourmet recipe that I was cooking for Christmas dinner. Thereafter, the bottle lingered at the bottom fridge, unloved, for almost two years before it was eventually discarded for having dared to live past its sell-by date.

These days, another ketchup bottle stands in its place. Last year, June Taylor caught me out by insisting I sample a little of her handmade sauce. I was immediately bewitched by the rich, sweet, smooth tomatoes and the mouthwatering but quite secret combination of vinegar and 'spices' that make up its alluring personality. I can't put on a finger on it, but her ketchup reminds me somehow of England and a taste from a distant memory. That is no surprise, June is English too and since she actually said to me "You're English, you'll appreciate this" as she handed me a taster, she must have intended to capture something distinctive to make me sigh with satisfaction.

At $14 a bottle, some might balk at the price of June's Ketchup, but for those who appreciate that it is made in small batches, by hand, from the most wonderful local tomatoes picked at their prime, the chance to have a very grown-up version of a little blob of childish sauce on the side of the plate, is not one to be missed. Get it whilst you still can.

Transparency: June Taylor is aware that I write a blog and am interested in obsessed with food. After she provocatively enticed me with the sample of her irriesistable sauce and I agreed to purchase a bottle, June kindly gave me a $2 discount.

I have never ever acquired the taste for tomato ketchup, now give me daddies sauce any time. Yes I did give in and let you have one of those squishy dispensers that cause plenty of amusement at times.I wonder if I could be converted with your new discovery.

i am pretty certain it is cloves perfectly balanced with some other spices, and the result is definitely more spiced than Heinz could ever be, albeit it in a gentle mouthwatering way, not an overpowering way.

it reminds me, i think, of branston pickle too.

cookie crumb - no need to pony up the $14 yet, just let me give you a taste of mine first.

We were strict Heinz people for years (husband firmly believed in The Gospel According to Heinz) when, inexplicably, he brought a bottle of Trader Joe's ketchup home. Experimenting or laziness, you decide. But now that he has broken from the mold, I think it is time to move, yet again, on up. So I'm looking at this utterly tempting ketchup and wondering, where, exactly, is my wallet. What fun.

amazing! I gave that tomato to my step-sister for Christmas this year. She and I first bonded over our mutual love of ketchup sandwiches (on toast, with or without velveeta slices or cottage cheese).Theres an amazing restaurant over in Brooklyn called "Beast" where they make the most addictively smokey homemade ketchup. I'm angling for the recipe!

Hey Sam - thanks for the reco - I'm taking the marmalade class tomorrow at the Still Room and was wondering what other goodies I might purchase while I was there. This could be my HP brown sauce (only available at Costco) replacement for those occasional bacon butties - yum!

That's a lot of money to be squeezin' on a Ballpark hotdog! I can sometimes be convinced to throw down $12 for a jar of her conserves or fruit butters, but I have to be honest with ya: I find it a little difficult to pay $14 for a bottle of ketchup.

Maybe it's the name. Maybe if she called it Tomato Chutney it would be different somehow.

I am taking a marmelade class from June Taylor at the end of February and I think I am going to come with an extra bag to smuggle her products!I noticed that it's been a year since you declared you were going on Weight Watchers. I'd love an update. What do you say?

'Becks and Posh' is modern cockney for 'nosh'. Follow English-Girl-Abroad, Sam Breach, on her culinary travels, mainly in the San Francisco Bay Area, but also further afield, whilst she plays at being amateur restaurant critic, wine taster, food photographer, cocktail connoisseur, party planner, good food forager and practising home cook, with trusted French advisor, Fred, by her side.